Inspirational Skai: Day 1 | Five Fall Favourites 2026: Community/Neighborhood

Friends we are finally back for another year of blogging like mad to share six blogs in one week. And to add to my own personal stress, this year, I am also rehearsing for a play that opens in October. I did as much prep as possible, so hopefully this week goes as smooth as possible. For me, Five Fall Favorites marks the shift from summer to the colder months. When I love reading, writing and all the holiday feels. We had some rain last week. It was a taste of better weather, and I am ready for more.

If we haven't met before, my name is Skai. I originally launched this blog back in 2012, when I was fifteen years old. I wanted to share my fiction and short stories with the world. In 2020, I dabbled in sharing books on Instagram and launched Skai_BooksAndBracelets on Instagram in 2021. Three years ago, I decided to return to this blog and relaunch it as a space to talk about books in a longer form. Lately, I've been doing monthly blogs where I talk about the books I read from my local public library. Those posts are called "Love Your Library." Many of the books shared this week, have already been shared on one of those lists.

Let's get into the first theme for this week.

What better way to start a week of talking about books with a fabulous group of book bloggers than to start with the theme of "Community." After doing Five Fall Favorites for the past who years, I know this is one of the sweetest communities on the internet. I'm always so hard on myself to make to make these "perfect," but everyone here is so encouraging and understanding when things don't go according to plan. For today's five books, we have different examples of characters who find community. Each of these stories tells the impact people have on each other.

1. The Wedding People by Alison Espach

In The Wedding People, Phoebe checks into a New England hotel on the beach hoping to enjoy her dream vacation before she ends her life. She arrives to find she's the only guest at the hotel not there for a wedding. Lila was supposed to get married years ago, but her wedding was delayed because of COVID, and now she has got all her friends and family together to enjoy a weeklong destination wedding, and she refuses to let anything ruin her wedding, especially not Phoebe. When Phoebe and Lila confide in each other, they quickly form a bond and Phoebe is welcomed into a new community that encourages her to give life another chance. This book is humorous and heartfelt, but it's an adult title covering the tough topics of divorce, depression, and mental health. Content warnings include adult language, conversations about adults having s*x, depression and s*icide, and LGBTQ+ characters.

This book demonstrates community because the relationship between Phoebe and Lila isn't quite friendship, nor is it mother-daughter. It isn't even quite a mentor-mentee relationship because they both learn from each other, but from personal experience, that is the true meaning of community. People learn from each other and growing alongside each other. Additionally, while Phoebe is in New England she meets many other people who offer her a chance to start over and build something new.

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2. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn

Written entirely in letters, correspondence, Ella Minnow Pea is about a small island community who harkens Nevin Nollop, author of the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," as their founding father. When letter titles of the pangram begin to fall off the inscription, the town council decrees that each letter that that falls should be banned from writing and speaking, and that three infractions will result in banishment for the offender. The book centers around a young woman, Ella Minnow Pea and the brave people around her who fight for letters, love, and life as their peaceful island town, turns into a theocratic totalitarian regime. I enjoyed this political satire told in correspondences, although as each alphabet letter disappears, it gets increasingly difficult to decipher the correspondence. Content warning: Language and violence.

This is literally about a community, the people on Island of Nollop who experience the same situation and respond differently. In the letters there are perspectives of neighbors who agree with the council and even turn on their neighbors, people who believe that it's all nonsense, and everything in between. While satirical, this book captures how community can be a messy and beautiful place all at the same time.

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3. Murder Like Clockwork by Nicola Whyte

Murder Like Clockwork is the sequel to 21 Marchfield Square, a mystery where the two amateur detectives are neighbors. Audrey only thinks of Lewis as her pesky neighbor, but as a part-time crime fiction writer, he knows about solving mysteries. Audrey is a housecleaner with an eye for details. When she arrives early at a cleaning job, she discovers a bloody murder in her client's bedroom. Scared, she runs and calls the police, but when they arrive and she goes back into the house to show them it's gone. Since the police believe she imagined the whole thing, she asks Lewis to help her find the truth. Content warnings: Language, violence, and LGBTQ+ characters.

I love a good cozy mystery. This one also has some action and danger, and just a hint of a hint of romance. Audrey and Lewis are neighbors and reluctant friends, and throughout their quest, they consult many of their other neighbors. Murder Like Clockwork proves that it takes a neighborhood, a whole community to solve a mystery.

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4. Love Unmasked by Becky Dean

Evie is the polite, friendly and reliable but she decides to sneak out during a class trip to Venice because she wants to visit a meetup for her favorite fantasy book series. She explores a braver, nerdier side of herself, when she discovers a new community who supports her fandom and her art. She also meets Angelo, another high school student from the US, but since they are both wearing cosplay and masks, neither knows the true other's identity. Sneaking out is a big risk and could put her trip and new friendships in danger. Content warning: Kissing and mild language.

This Becky Dean romance is a young adult story, and the characters are teens growing up, but they are so sweet, funny, and I would highly recommend for any reader looking for a clean romance. It fits the theme of community because she discovers people who accept her for who she is and the shared bond of common interests. I like the example that community isn't always about where you live. It can also be about finding common interests. I sent a friendship bracelet across the country earlier this month as a gift for a friend, who is a fellow book lover that I meet on Instagram. Community isn't just where you live, it's also the people you care about.

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5. How to Find a Romance in a Bookshop by Poppy Alexander

Petra is laying low after a social media typo wreaks her career as a literary agent, so she takes a temporary job running Capelthorne's Bookshop in Portneath. Ross is a bestselling author with writer's block, spending the summer in a rented cottage in the quiet seaside town of Portneath. When Petra meets Ross in the train station, she's lost and confuses him for a homeless man. Being confused for a homeless man prompts Ross make some changes. In this standalone companion novel to Battle of the Bookshops, a Romeo and Juliet retelling, Petra and Ross's story echoes William Shakepear's The Tempest. Content warnings: Language, peril, fade to black s*x, LGBTQ+ characters.

This duology is cozy and character driven. The romance is for adults, but not explicit. After reading the two Shakespear inspired standalones in quiet port town, I want to read more. Everyone in this town rallies around these characters. Petra and Ross both start out as outsiders, but by the end they are members of a community that is welcoming and helpful. This is one fictional community I would actually like to live in.

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Conclusion

All five of today's books are ones that I read this year. When I got the prompts for this year, I started looking for books that were different than the ones I've shared before in the previous two years. So, the majority of the books that I will share this week will be new books. Even many of the older books are new to me titles.

I enjoyed looking for books that matched today's prompt. I felt like all five of these books are great examples of community. Some of them are communities to learn from while others are ones to strive to be like.

To this community, I would like to start by thanking our gracious hosts Kate and Katja for coordinating this week and all of its blogging madness. I would like to give a shoutout for Team Mouse! I can't wait to read everyone's blogs and discover new book recs. there are a couple of books, that I will share this week, that I originally discovered from previous Five Fall Favorites. Lastly, thank you to everyone who will read this. See you tomorrow and don't forget to check out the other blogs. A few of them will have freebees and there is the weekly drawing that you can enter. Information about all of that is below.

Thank you for reading today, I hope to see you again tomorrow. I struggled to figure out how to use tomorrow's prompt, but I hope you all enjoy interpretation.